Monday, May 1, 2017

7 Stocks Using Real Cash To Pay Higher Dividends

You can’t spend earnings! At first glance, this seems like an odd statement, possibly even incorrect. However, it is not only correct, but an important axiom for all types of investors. Through fraud and manipulation financial statements can be made to look quite impressive, but the cash that arrives in your brokerage account is real.

An increasing cash dividend keeps pressure on management to ensure the company is well run. If there are too many missteps, eventually the dividend will slip. Here are several stocks where management recently met the challenge by raising their cash dividends:

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is a holding company, which is engaged in the research and development, manufacture and sale of a range of products in the healthcare field. Recently the company increased its quarterly dividend 5% to $0.84 per share. The dividend is payable June 13, 2017 to stockholders of record on May 30, 2017, with an ex-dividend date of May 25, 2017. The yield based on the new payout is 2.7%.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) is engaged in the exploration, production, transportation and sale of crude oil and natural gas, and the manufacture, transportation and sale of petroleum products. Recently the company increased its quarterly dividend 2.7% to $0.77 per share. The dividend is payable June 9, 2017 to stockholders of record on May 12, 2017, with an ex-dividend date of May 10, 2017. The yield based on the new payout is 3.8%.

Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX) is engaged in designing and developing programmable devices and associated technologies. Recently the company increased its quarterly dividend 6.1% to $0.35 per share. The dividend is payable June 1, 2017 to stockholders of record on May 16, 2017, with an ex-dividend date of May 12, 2017. The yield based on the new payout is 2.3%.

W.W. Grainger, Inc. (GWW) is a distributor of maintenance, repair and operating supplies and other related products and services. Recently the company increased its quarterly dividend 4.9% to $1.28 per share. The dividend is payable June 1, 2017 to stockholders of record on May 8, 2017, with an ex-dividend date of May 4, 2017. The yield based on the new payout is 2.6%.

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a technology company. Recently the company increased its quarterly dividend 7.1% to $1.50 per share. The dividend is payable June 10, 2017 to stockholders of record on May 10, 2017, with an ex-dividend date of May 8, 2017. The yield based on the new payout is 3.7%.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) is engaged in the operation of 715 membership warehouses in the United States and Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Spain, and through its subsidiaries in Taiwan and Korea. Recently the company increased its quarterly dividend 11% to $0.50 per share. The dividend is payable May 26, 2017 to stockholders of record on May 12, 2017, with an ex-dividend date of May 10, 2017. The yield based on the new payout is 1.2%.

AmeriGas Partners, L.P. (APU) is retail propane distributor in the United States serving approximately two million residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, wholesale and motor fuel customers in all 50 states from approximately 2,000 propane distribution locations. Recently the company increased its quarterly dividend 1.1% to $0.95 per share. The dividend is payable May 18, 2017 to stockholders of record on May 10, 2017, with an ex-dividend date of May 8, 2017. The yield based on the new payout is 8.3%.

Selecting stocks with increasing dividends is critical for an income growth strategy. The above list contains stocks that recently raised their dividends; it is not a list of recommend buys. As always, due diligence should be performed before buying or selling any stock. For a list of stocks with a long string of consecutive cash dividend increases, see this list.

Full Disclosure: Long IBM, XOM, JNJ. See a list of all my Dividend Growth Portfolio holdings here.

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Tags: IBM, XOM, JNJ, COST, XLNX, APU, GWW,